How Verification Works

Introduction

U Up Pty Ltd ("U Up", "we", "our", "us") operates a technology platform for structured booking requests. This page explains what is actually checked, for whom, and what U Up deliberately never receives.

Every account on U Up is verified. Clients confirm their age. Providers confirm who they are. The difference is deliberate, and in both cases the checking is done by a specialist provider, not by us.

Verification supports platform integrity, protects providers, and meets U Up's obligations under Australian law. It does not remove the need for users to exercise their own judgement, and it does not transfer provider obligations to U Up.

Read this together with U Up's Terms and Conditions, Content Standards, Security page, Privacy Policy and How Payments Work page.

The two sides

The two sides of the platform carry different risks, so they are checked differently.

Both clients and providers

• Email address verified.
• Mobile number verified by one-time passcode.
• Confirmed to be 18 or over.

Providers only

• A government photo identity document, always.
• A liveness check matching the person to the document.
• A re-check every 30 days.
• Every photograph and every bio reviewed by a person before publication.

Clients only

• A government photo document is requested only if the age check cannot resolve.
• No face is ever matched to a document.
• Clients cannot publish content, so there is nothing to review.

Why the asymmetry. A client is buying access to a booking workflow. A provider is meeting someone in person, and their listing is what a client relies on. The heavier controls belong on the side where the risk to a real person is greatest.

Client verification

Three steps, once.

• Email - verified when you receive your access link.
• Mobile - verified by one-time passcode.
• Age - confirmed by a specialist verification provider. See the next section.

Clients are never asked for a name-matched identity document as the first step, and are never asked for a home address. U Up does not build a client identity file.

How the age check works

Age assurance is provided by Persona, an independent verification provider.

The normal path: a photograph, no document

You take a photograph with your camera. Persona estimates your age from it and tells U Up whether you are over 18. The image is handled by Persona and never reaches U Up. Because it is an estimate, the threshold is set conservatively. Someone clearly over 18 clears in a few seconds.

The fallback: only if the first step cannot resolve

If the estimate cannot place you confidently above the threshold, you are offered a document check instead. This exists so that nobody is locked out by an estimate, and so that a government document is never the only route available. It is a fallback, not the default.

Once, and it fails closed

The check runs once. A returning client is never asked again.

If the check errors, times out, or the provider is unavailable, access is refused rather than granted. A misconfiguration must never quietly open an adult platform.

Provider verification

Providers are verified properly, because a client is meeting them in person.

Before a listing is published, a provider completes identity verification through Persona:

• A government-issued photo identity document.
• A liveness check, confirming the person presenting the document is the person in it.

U Up never receives or stores the document or the liveness image. Both are handled by Persona under its own controls. U Up receives the outcome, the method, and a timestamp.

No listing is published and no booking can be accepted until a provider clears verification.

Onboarding also includes review of profile completeness and consistency, review of content against U Up's Content Standards, requests for correction, and the ability to restrict, delay or decline access where information is incomplete, misleading or unsuitable.

The 30-day re-check

Provider accounts are re-confirmed every 30 days by a live in-app photograph.

This answers a specific risk: that an account verified by one person is later used, controlled or sold to someone else. A one-off check at signup cannot detect that. A recurring one can.

It is also how U Up enforces its prohibition on third-party control of a provider's account or earnings. An account handed to another person fails the check.

As with onboarding, only the most recent result is retained, never the image.

What we store, and where it happens

For both clients and providers, U Up stores the result only: whether the person is over 18, which method was used, and when the check happened.

No date of birth. No identity document. No photograph. No biometric template.

This follows the OAIC's age-assurance guidance of 17 March 2026, which requires verification inputs to be destroyed once their purpose is met and expressly permits retaining a binary result, the method used, and a timestamp.

Where verification happens

Persona processes verification data outside Australia, in either the United States or the European Union. We have asked Persona to confirm which region applies to our account and will name it here as soon as we have it.

Identity documents and verification images are held by Persona under its own security and retention controls. U Up never receives them, and could not disclose them if asked to, because we do not hold them. More detail is in U Up's Privacy Policy.

Content review

Every listing photograph and every provider bio is reviewed by a person before it appears.

Content is treated as restricted until a person has classified it. If nobody has reviewed it, it is not shown publicly. Silence is never treated as approval, and a provider's own marking of their content is advisory and never sufficient on its own.

Every photograph must show the provider and nobody else. If another person appears in the frame, including someone in the background, a reflection, or a person only partly visible, the photograph is rejected. There is no approval path for an image containing another person.

Where content is rejected, the provider is told which rule it breached, in the same words used in the published Content Standards.

Where age-restricted material sits

U Up is built in two layers.

Anyone can see

• The provider's working name.
• One non-explicit photograph.
• Suburb and age.
• Rates and availability.

Only after the age check

• The full photo gallery.
• The service list.
• The provider's bio and boundaries.
• Making a booking.

Some listing photography is sexually explicit. It sits in the verified layer and is never shown to anyone who has not passed the age check.

The split is enforced on our servers, not in your browser. Restricted material is not sent at all to a viewer who has not been age-assured, and images are checked a second time and independently when they are requested. Being signed in is not the same as being age-assured.

Ongoing monitoring

Verification is not limited to onboarding. U Up continues to review platform activity, account signals, reports and complaints to identify fake accounts and requests, misleading profile information, repeated complaints, suspicious booking activity, chargeback or refund abuse, and attempts to bypass booking, verification, payment or safety controls.

U Up uses a combination of manual review, automated tools and third-party service providers for this purpose.

What verification does not mean

Verification is not a guarantee, an endorsement, or evidence of any employment or agency relationship. It does not mean that:

• U Up employs the provider.
• U Up acts as their agent, representative, manager, payment collector or payout provider.
• U Up guarantees availability, pricing, conduct, service delivery or outcomes.
• U Up controls a provider's independent obligations, tax affairs, licences or registrations.
• U Up guarantees every profile detail remains accurate at all times.
• U Up is responsible for provider service fees or arrangements made outside the platform.

Limits of verification

No verification process eliminates all risk or guarantees every interaction. Information can change after it is reviewed. Providers are responsible for keeping their information accurate and notifying U Up when relevant details change.

U Up may update, expand or change verification steps over time based on operational needs, risk signals, legal requirements, compliance expectations or payment processor requirements.

Your responsibilities

Provide accurate information, keep your account details current, report misleading profiles or unsafe conduct, use official support channels, and do not attempt to bypass platform controls.

Verification is not a substitute for personal judgement.

Changes to this page

U Up may update this page to reflect changes in verification processes, third-party providers, legal requirements or risk management practices.

The updated version is posted here with a revised "Last Updated" date.

Contact us

For questions about verification, the age check, or a verification outcome, contact U Up Pty Ltd directly.